Trading Sorrows
by freelance beatnik
Summary: Théoden ponders about his fortunes right after Elfhild dies giving birth to Théodred. Probably a one shot. Please R&R, criticism is greatly appreciated.


Trading Sorrows

By freelance beatnik

**Disclaimer:** If I actually owned this I wouldn't need to write fanfiction, now would I?

**Summary:** Théoden ponders about his fortunes right after Elfhild dies giving birth to Théodred. Probably a one shot. Please R&R, criticism is greatly appreciated.

**Author's Note:** I am actually writing this because I have writer's block for my Erestor/OC story Disillusion. Théoden is one of my favorite characters, and I've always thought there aren't enough pieces about him. I plan on writing a Théoden/Elfhild story at some point, and I might write one about Théodred too. Anyway, enough with my rambling, and enjoy the story.

The tears came like a flood, though he had tried desperately to hold them back. His resolve was as a failing floodgate as he sank down against the wall in despair. They had come to him, the midwives and healers, with sad eyes and sympathetic murmurs as they led him to her deathbed. To see her one last time, but she was already gone.

_My beloved Elfhild…_

Yesterday she had been radiant, glowing with an ethereal beauty and happiness in the expectation of the coming child. He could see her still, standing on the steps of Meduseld, enjoying the warmth of pale spring sunshine as the wind caressed her golden hair. She had looked like an angel, and he knew he did not deserve her love. He had gone to her then, and held her in his arms as they looked over Edoras. She had promised him they would have a son.

_She was never wrong…_

They had been sitting near the low heat of the fireplace, enjoying one anther's company when it had begun. She had laughed with joy at the first pangs of the child's coming, and he had kissed her, loving her for her light and her cheerfulness which were never-ceasing. The midwife had been summoned, and he sad sat with her in the early hours, whispering a lover's reassurances to ease her growing discomfort.

_It was not enough…_

The hours raged on, until at last the midwife cast him out of the room. He had kissed her hand as a token of their parting, and she had smiled one last time as he was sent away. He had sat outside the door, cringing with her as she screamed in agony, again and again. He could feel her pain in his soul, and he longed to be by her side. But then a sudden end to the shrieking came, and a child's wail, and in that moment he became a father.

_And a widower…_

They told him it had been too hard, too long, and too bloody, as he entered the chamber, and that her frailty had been the victor. There was so much blood, so much pain, and his beloved wife was gone. It looked like a battlefield, yet she had never even seen the son she had fought so hard to bear him. Cool sunlight passed from the window over her lifeless cheek, and he loved her still.

_Mother of my son…_

His son was handed to him then, as he wept like a child on the floor. He held him, hands trembling as the child's wailing subsided. Théodred, they had agreed, the child would be named, were it a boy. He looked at his son, the little pink face distorted by tears, and his heart ached in a way he had never known before. She was gone, and she had left him, but not without giving him something precious to remember her by. She had left behind a piece of her soul.

_My beautiful queen…_

He had cuffed away his tears, and gazed at his little Théodred in a new, clearer light. He had her lovely green eyes, and tufts of her shimmering golden hair. He was their son, who had made her smile more brightly than ever, even before she met him. She had suffered too greatly for him to fall into misery now. He would live now for his son, the greatest product of their love.

_And live for the memory of my Elfhild…_

**I've** never written something like this before, so any feedback good or bad would be really great. I kind of want to know if this sort of writing is something I should pursue or not. So yeah, review and let me know what you thought, and above all, I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
